Toronto Hot Pop Factory uses 3D printer to create unique jewellery

In an apartment in Toronto's Annex, Bi-Ying Miao and her boyfriend and design partner Matt Compeau are crafting their designs using rapid prototyping technologies like 3D printing.

Their studio, Hot Pop Factory is a jewellery studio creating one of a kind pieces on a 3D printer. Compeau and Miao both studied architecture, and they bought their RepRap originally for creating models of buildings. The two started experimenting with the RepRap and came up with their jewellery designs.

The duo start a project from an initial model of a reef-like form designed in Grasshopper and Rhino. They kept track of progress by documenting each major design shift and important print setting adjustments. With a 3D printer they could test out each design until they found the perfect geometry and grain pattern for them.

Recently they launched their first collection of 3D Printed jewelry: Stratigraphia.

This collection of jewelry celebrates the beauty of the stratified 3d-printed object and the power of slow accretion.

We explored this idea of accretion by observing the more subtle of natural forces – like wisps of clouds that stealthily gather to create a storm, or tiny grains of minerals eroded by the ocean that form the beach. We let the imagery lead us toward the three designs that make up our Hot Pop Factory collection. Each piece speaks to the quiet power of slow accretion, which is reflected not only in the way it is made but also in the power of the maker movement.

These pieces were created using advanced computational design tools and fabricated with a Makerbot Replicator. Each piece boldly expresses our passion and joy of the design process, using cutting edge technology to create intimate adornments for the body.

At Ladies Learning Code they brought their RepRap and some 3D printed jewellery with them and they were sold out. As to the future, they're hoping to develop web-based customization in the future where people can go online and tweak their original designs to create their own unique jewellery. "It's going from mass production to mass customization," Compeau explains.